Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park
Managed by Montgomery Parks
72 acres2.1 mi of trail
Rachel Carson Greenway Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: Andrew Bossi · CC BY-SA 2.5BOutdoors
Outdoors in White Oak
13% of White Oak’s land is conserved: 260 acres
2.6 miles of mapped trail cross White Oak, 0.8 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park (2.1 mi). 90 acres are parks and preserves, 5.2 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns · #171 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Conserved land
13%
260 acres · of 3.1 sq mi of land
Trails
2.6 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
90 ac
5.2 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
46%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.3 mi
0.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is White Oak?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does White Oak have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, White Oak is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #171 of 261 in Maryland. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of White Oak’s overall grade.
Conserved land13% of the land · typical MD town 9% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · MD 0.5 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land5.2 acres of park per 1,000 residents (90 acres) · MD 9 · U.S. 13CParks close to home46% of residents within a half mile of a park · MD 87% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 60%
LessMore
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 35%
Maryland towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 9%; the U.S., 4%), so White Oak’s 13% is ahead of 70% of Maryland towns, while its trails per square mile lead 68% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, with 2.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Paint Branch Stream Valley Park
Managed by Montgomery Parks
104 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Martin Luther King Jr. Recreational Park
Park
90 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Who protects it
260 conserved acres
13% of White Oak’s land. Who manages White Oak’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other or Unknown Local Government15 ac
County13 ac
Not recorded245 ac
State Other or Unknown · 215 acLocal Park · 31 acConservation Easement · 27 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 16 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 10 of 17 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paint Branch Park State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 176 | Unknown |
| Northwest Branch Park State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 70 | Unknown |
Things to do
8 places to go in White Oak
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in White Oak
Martin Luther King, Jr. Swim CenterIn Martin Luther King Jr. Recreational Park
DirectionsPlaygrounds in White Oak
Jackson Road Elementary School Playground
DirectionsPlus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Picnic areas in White Oak
1 picnic area without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
2 named trails and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 2.2 mi
Rachel Carson Greenway Trail1.7 mi
Rachel Carson Greenway Connector0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
14Tennis
6Basketball
3Baseball
2Soccer
1Tracks
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in White Oak: April to June and August
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 42 | 46 | 54 | 66 | 74 | 83 | 87 | 85 | 78 | 67 | 56 | 47 |
| Rain (in) | 3.0 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 4.5 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in White Oak →
Next door
White Oak and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Fairland8.7 miColesville8.4 miKemp Mill6.7 miBeltsville4.2 miCalverton3.7 miHillandale3.7 miBurnt Mills2.9 miWhite Oak2.6 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Oak | 13% | 0.8 | 5 | 46% | B |
| Calverton | 11% | 0.8 | 7 | 99% | A− |
| Kemp Mill | 18% | 2.7 | 3 | 96% | A− |
| Colesville | 16% | 1.6 | 9 | 93% | A |
| Burnt Mills | 15% | 3.5 | 3 | 99%+ | A |
| Hillandale | 12% | 2.0 | 17 | 99%+ | A+ |
| Fairland | 18% | 1.8 | 10 | 99%+ | A |
| Beltsville | 6% | 0.6 | 6 | 97% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in White Oak
Where can I hike in White Oak?
The longest trail networks: Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, 2.1 miles; Paint Branch Stream Valley Park, 0.1 miles; Martin Luther King Jr. Recreational Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of White Oak is conserved land?
13% of its land, against a typical 9% for a Maryland town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on White Oak’s trails?
Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park and Paint Branch Stream Valley Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in White Oak?
0.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near White Oak?
17,966 acres of parks and open public land lie inside White Oak or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 90 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does White Oak have?
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #171 of 261 in Maryland. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from White Oak neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →